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Sources: Trump To Nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett To High Court Today; Pres. Trump: The Only Way We're Going To Lose This Election Is If The Election Is Rigged; Experts Warn Of A Coming Surge Of COVID-19 Cases In U.S.; Long Lines For Early Voting In Virginia; Mercedes Benz Stadium Hosts Food Bank, Voter Registration Event; SEC Football Season Kicks Off With Fans At Every Game. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired September 26, 2020 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right, we're just a few hours away from President Trump announcing his U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Sources tell CNN, the president intends to choose Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with just 38 days until voters head to the polls.

The president is making the case that a new justice is needed before the election to decide any disputes over the final vote. The nomination announcement comes as the president continues to baselessly cast doubt and uncertainty about the legitimacy of the upcoming election and whether or not he will accept the results.

And at a rally last night in Virginia, he repeated his claims that the only way he will lose is if vote is rigged. President Trump will hold another campaign rally right after announcing his new justice nominate. So all of this coming as the U.S. just surpassed two grim milestones in the pandemic.

The number of coronavirus cases now exceeding 7 million and the death toll is over 200,000 and now health experts are warning of a major surge in cases in the next few months. We have a team of correspondents and analysts covering all of these developments.

Let's begin with Sarah Westwood at the White House. Sarah, the president is once again doubling down and sowing doubt about the election.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes Fred, President Trump went much further this week in his efforts to undermine his supporters' confidence in the election results. If they reflect anything other than a win for him and at his rally last night in Virginia, we heard him recycle some of those debunked theories about voter fraud and mail-in ballots and we just cannot stress enough, there is no evidence that widespread fraud will play any role in this election but we saw him continue to push that misleading information. All that after a week in which he stirred considerable controversy

with his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the election in November and he was doubling down on that even as he was getting some considerable unease even from some of his allies on Capitol Hill, who just don't like the direction that he was going with that.

And at his rally in Newport News, the president said that he might be amenable to a friendly transfer of power but only if he feels he hasn't been cheated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's the only way we're going to lose is if there's mischief. Mischief, and it would have to be on a big scale so be careful and I do want a very friendly transition. But we don't want to be cheated and be stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: And now obviously the president will be announcing his pick to fill that Supreme Court vacancy from here at the White House in just a few hours so significant announcement for a lot of reasons Fred but one of them is because he acknowledged this week that the election results could end up being decided before the Supreme Court and if that happens and if this nominee is successfully confirmed, a third of those justices on the bench doing so will have been appointed by him.

WHITFIELD: And Sarah, is it the case the president's mind was you know made up very early on that he only interviewed in person one candidate for this position and that would be Amy Coney Barrett. Yes Fred, it seems that Judge Amy Coney Barrett was the front runner throughout this very short process.

Source tells CNN that she was really the only one of the president formally interviewed despite the fact that on Monday he said he was speaking to a number of the candidates for this nomination. Really she was the one who got the most attention from the president.

So the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his conversations with Trump and with the White House counsel had said all along that Amy Coney Barrett was the pick that the Senate GOP conference is most comfortable with. She was really a known quantity having been seriously considered by the White House before.

So throughout the process she was the one that the president had his eye on. She is expected to be on Capitol Hill this coming week for courtesy calls with lawmakers, also expected to meet with McConnell. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right Sarah Westwood at the White House. Thank you so much. All right and all this now just three days before the first presidential debate. Joe Biden is downplaying concerns that President Trump may try to hold on to power if the election doesn't turn out in Trump's favor.

I want to bring in now CNN's Arlette Saenz. Arlette, what is Biden saying?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, Joe Biden is basically saying that this is part of President Trump's playbook to distract from the issues at hand. In an interview Joe Biden recently did, he argued that the president is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power because he's trying to distract and avoid talking about issues with the economy and the public health crisis in the middle of this coronavirus pandemic.

But ultimately Biden thinks that people will not stand for it if the president will not eventually commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses reelection and the former vice president also once again criticized the president for baselessly casting doubt on this election process.

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Questioning things like the integrity of mail-in voting. Take a listen to a bit more of what Biden had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people aren't going to be shut down in this election. They're going to vote. They're going to vote in large numbers and they are just not going to be denied.

I'm confident all the irresponsible attacks on voting. We'll have an election in this country as we always have had and he'll leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now all of this comes as Joe Biden and President Trump are preparing to face off for the first presidential debate in just three days and each of the candidates is preparing for this debate in their own way.

Biden told reporters, he started focusing a bit more heavily on his debate prep on Thursday as this debate is now starting to near. He prefers to have rapid fire questions talk to him from his aides versus mock debates.

The president for his part is studying is a possible lines of attack that could come from Biden and Biden is bracing for those attacks from the president saying that he believes that they will be personal as this is all soon going to play out on debate station in Cleveland on Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: All right just days away. Thank you so much Arlette Saenz. All right so just now for 38 days until Election Day and that's the time frame the president wants to confirm his new Supreme Court nominee and we're also learning that person will be Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appellate judge and Notre Dame law professor.

Let me bring in now CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue. So Ariane, what more can you tell us about how unusual or typical this might be that the president would only have a face to face meeting with the one candidate before actually naming that person as a nominee?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right Fred but keep in mind, it's only been one week since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Immediately after that President Trump and his aides moved quickly, beginning this process.

They have vetted a lot of different candidates but only one as you said, got that sit down meeting with President Trump and that's Amy Coney Barrett, right? She's 48 years old. That's young. She would be the youngest member of the Supreme Court. She would be serving for decades. She would be the fifth woman to serve.

She's a former clerk of justice Antonin Scalia and when you read through some of our opinions, you really see at threads of his jurisprudence and Fred, she is a dream candidate of the religious right. Before she took the bench they liked some of her writings on her religion.

They particularly like some votes she's cast on the bench when it comes to abortion and other conservatives look to other opinions, she's already written on the second amendment, on immigration. They think that those are very solid and one more thing to keep in mind Fred, she is the ideological opposite of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

WHITFIELD: So then Ariane, what happens you know after this nomination, I mean typically there maybe a vetting of 40 some days you know for a nominee but the Republicans have said they want to work fast you know to get this confirmation wrapped up before November 3.

So what will be happening in the interim?

DE VOGUE: Right, well now is the big fight things to Capitol Hill we know that that she's going to do that tradition of meet and greet with the senators. It's something that is tradition, exhausting for the nominees, I'm not quite sure how it will occur with COVID but she will also already, if she hasn't already have to fulfil - fill out a very thorough Senate questionnaire that talks a lot about speaking appearances.

Things that she's written, opinions, when she was first interviewed by the president and then keep in mind, the Democrats are already saying that at the confirmation hearing, they're wanting her to recuse from any potential election cases but that of course is up to the nominate.

The Supreme Court would leave that recusal decision up to the justices. Keep in mind that this next term begins on October 5. One week after the elections, the Supreme Court is going to hear that blockbuster case concerning the future of the entire Affordable Care Act. She's already written in the past skeptically about that law.

Conservatives now are very emboldened. Democrats are very disheartened and a lot of them look back to when conservative justice Clarence Thomas was chosen to take the seat of liberal icon Thurgood Marshall.

So it's going to be a big extended fight that we're going to see Fred, in the coming weeks.

WHITFIELD: Yes so interesting Ariane, back to that bit about the recusal, you said it would be up to the justices as to whether she would have to recuse herself, not perhaps solely on the Chief Justice but all of them would have to kind of what, thumbs up and down kind of vote on that?

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DE VOGUE: That's what happens at the Supreme Court because ethic rules govern lower courts and lower courts judges but once you reach the Supreme Court, any decision to recuse from a particular case, that's left up to the justice and that because it's obviously when a court is evenly split 4-4 that it means that the court is left upholding what the lower court did.

So they leave it up to the justices whether or not they will recuse. So that will have to wait. No matter what she says at the hearing, that decision would wait until if she got on the bench.

WHITFIELD: OK, the potential fireworks ahead. Ariane de Vogue, thank you so much.

DE VOGUE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right and this grim milestone in the fight against coronavirus. The United States now reporting more than 7 million cases but doctor Anthony Fauci is striking an optimistic tone when it comes to a potential vaccine. Plus Florida was once the epicenter of the pandemic but now bars and restaurants are reopening in the state, some at 100 percent capacity. Is it too much too soon?

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WHITFIELD: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis catches some local leaders by surprise after announcing that bars and restaurants can open at 100 percent capacity. This as the state reports 2791 new coronavirus cases. CNN's Randi Kaye joins me now from Palm Beach county. So Randy, politicians local - on the local level very surprised. What about everybody else there?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think there's a lot of confusion about what this all means. The governor tried to lay it out yesterday Fred, late in the day at a press conference but still a lot of confusion as to what's open, how many people can go inside, how many people have to stay outside, what's the mask mandate now in these individual counties.

So they're trying to figure it out but the governor wants everybody to know that we are officially in phase 3. The state of Florida is 100 percent open for business. He wants restaurants to be open to 100 percent capacity so that is under way already. Bars and night clubs also can open to a 100 percent capacity although there will be some limited social distancing protocols in the bars and in the night clubs.

But the governor says that if the county wants to just open the restaurants to 50 percent capacity so less than the 100 percent that he's looking for, they also have to provide justification. So they actually have to give a reason and help the state understand why they want to do that. He's trying to limit these social distancing guidelines as well.

And in terms of masks, a lot of the counties in the local municipalities around the state have a mask mandate in order. There's no statewide mandate but they want people wearing masks. They're fining people for wearing mask - for not wearing masks and the governor says you can no longer do that. That's all part of his new plan. You can no longer fine people for not wearing a mask.

And as you said this really did catch some people by surprise, some of the local officials. The Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, he said that he learned about all of this from a bar owner who called him asking questions. He said he's disappointed. He's going to have his county attorney look into this and as far as his mask mandate goes, he says he's keeping in place since they don't issue fines to people who aren't wearing masks.

And on top of all of this Fred, the governor says that he wants for the Super Bowl coming up in February here in the state in Tampa Bay. He wants it at full capacity. He wants every seat filled in that stadium. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I also want to be able to show, we're going to be able to host a Super Bowl in February. We expect to do a full Super Bowl and we're going to show that we're going to be able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The governor obviously thinks that the threat has eased here in the state. That's what he says but even in Tampa Bay where the Super Bowls take place, that team right now is in allowing any fans into their stadium. So the governor certainly wants to change that. But the numbers are still a bit of a concern here in Florida.

If you look at the seven-day average, they have ticked down the case numbers. The infections have ticked down but in September, we did see a bit of an increase and overall we have for about 14,000 dead here in the state of Florida Fred. So certainly still plenty of concern.

WHITFIELD: Yes, still some very powerful grim numbers. All right, Randi Kaye, thank you so much in Palm Beach county. And I'll have live reaction from the Miami Mayor Francis Suarez coming up in the next hour.

So as Florida's governor pushes a speedy return to normalcy, Dr. Anthony Fauci is encouraging people to be patient and to continue safe practices like social distancing and mask wearing and he predicts things won't be completely normal until sometime after a vaccine is introduced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NSAID: In reality by the time you get enough people vaccinated so that you can feel that you have had an impact enough on the outbreak so that you can start thinking about maybe getting a little bit more towards normality, that very likely is as I and others have said would be maybe the third quarter or so of 2021, maybe even in the fourth quarter but the availability and starting vaccination could very likely start in November - December.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's bring in Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a Primary Care Pediatrician and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center.

Doctor, good to see you.

DR. EDITH BRACHO-SANCHEZ, PRIMARY CARE PEDIATRICIAN: Good to see you. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: So how much should people be counting on a vaccine to help restore some normalcy?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Fredricka, I hear these things and I see the data and I am encouraged but I am cautious. We're not there yet. We're just not there yet. I think science and I think vaccine development and modern science is going to get us out of this but it is going to take time to so many people have said.

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And in the meantime, what we so badly need from the general public is to help us, help us make it there and help us minimize the number of people who have to die until science gets us there and the number of family members who have to suffer because they're losing loved ones.

WHITFIELD: And there was a distinction there in what Dr. Fauci was saying there. He was saying you know available - vaccine available November possibly this year but he also talked about the number of people actually doing it later on in 2021.

I also want to zero in on kids you know, a group of pediatric infectious disease specialists calling for leading coronavirus vaccine developers to begin clinical trials of their vaccines in children in the United States.

So why do separate trials need to be done for adults versus children?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: That's exactly right Fredericka and we've been looking at this closely, we the pediatricians I mean have been looking at the trials and have been saying, wait a minute guys, they haven't including children so far.

So we have to really be careful about how we do this for children. We need of course additional layers of protection, not to say that current trials are not taking of course a number of measures but children are wonderful and children are different.

The reactions that you look for in an adult from the vaccine may not be the same reaction that you were looking for in a child. So we need people who are qualified, who are thinking about those things to design those trials for us and then we can start talking about or even considering giving this vaccine to children but we're not there yet.

WHITFIELD: Yes how far off do you believe you know we meaning the whole universe, you know are away from kids being involved in clinical trials?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Well, Fredricka, the truth is I don't know. I haven't seen the plans laid out so I can't say with confidence exactly how far we are, which is why it's so important and we sound like broken records and I know it's not what people want to hear but it's why it's so important for people to help us until we're there.

And I just have no data to draw conclusions from yet.

WHITFIELD: There is some data that you know shows that more than 587,000 children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association but this is what President Trump said this week about the virus and its impact on children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We didn't know it. Now we know it. It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems and other problems if they have other problems, that's what it really affects, that's it. You know in some states thousands of people, nobody young below the age of 18, like nobody.

They have a strong immune system who knows. You look good, you take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of immune system but it affects virtually nobody but it's an amazing thing.

By the way, open your schools, everybody open your schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Doctor, virtually nobody? I mean even if children aren't dying at the same rate as older Americans you know, are there not still some other serious impacts for children, psychologically, emotionally, medically?

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Absolutely. I would say virtually nobody is immune from this virus. We know that everyone at every age you can get this virus. Of course the incidence has been higher for older adults. Children for reasons we are learning and are studying have dealt with this virus a lot better than the old have. But that doesn't mean that they are immune Fredricka and we can't, I mean we're just not in a point, where we can keep using this as a political talking point. It is established in the science, children can get this, children can pass it on. They may do so at different rates but we just can't get complacent here and we can't use children as political talking points.

WHITFIELD: All right Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, thank you so much. We'll leave it there for now.

BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: All right, just another reminder, Election Day now less than six weeks away and some people are lining up to cast their ballots now, especially in Virginia. A closer look at the early voting numbers when a candidate for Congress joins me live next.

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[12:25:00]

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WHITFIELD: All right, Election Day just 38 days away but many Americans are not waiting to cast their ballots on November 4. A new CNN survey shows that interest in early voting is soaring. In fact more than 0.5 million ballots have already been cast. CNN's Kristen Holmes is breaking down the numbers for us. Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN HOST: These numbers are a clear sign of what is expected to be record shattering turn out this election and let's get right to the numbers and break them down so, so far this year, there have been a 28 million pre-election ballots requested. Now that is on top of an additional 43 million ballots that are going to be automatically sent out.

And just for context, this amount already exceeds the number of pre- election ballots that were cast in 2016 overall. That was about 50 million in total. So of course, the big question now is who exactly is doing the voting.

[12:30:01]

So let's pull up our party breakdown. And this is of those critical battleground states. And you can see that Democrats are far outpacing Republicans by about 1.3 million more ballots. But there is a very important caveat here, which is that despite this number being extraordinarily high, it's not that surprising from all of our research, data, polling, we know that Republicans and particularly Trump supporters, they prefer to vote in person on Election Day.

So because of that these numbers could easily be made up. And just to give you a visual breakdown here of just how incredibly high these numbers are, let's take the state of North Carolina and here you can see a side by side between the ballots requested this year and the ballots requested in 2016 at around the same time point. The ballots this year just surpassed 1 million requests at this same exact time, roughly the same time back in 2016. That number was only 85,000. So that is a big discrepancy.

And it's even clearer here when you see it on a graph like this. And one thing we always want to make clear is that this kind of this kind of data, that is pre request that does not give us any kind of indication as to what the election outcome is going to be. What it does, is it shows us just how much interest there is in this election.

WHITFIELD: All right Kristen Holmes, thank you so much, already thinking the day after Election Day, November 3rd.

All right, one state that is witnessing this surging interest in early voting is Virginia. In fact, early voting turnout is already hitting record levels in that state, with long lines becoming commonplace at polling sites since voting began just over a week ago.

Joining me right now, Dr. Cameron Webb, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in Virginia's 5th district, he is also the director of Health Policy and Equity at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Good to see you, Doctor.

DR. CAMERON WEBB, PHYSICIAN: Thanks for having me Fredricka, nice to see you.

WHITFIELD: So Doctor Webb, you know, we just showed video of long lines of polling locations in Virginia, what does that tell you about the excitement, the nervousness or even trust about this presidential race?

WEBB: It tells us a little bit about all three, I mean, there's a tremendous amount of enthusiasm about this election cycle, about this election season. I think people recognize there's a lot on the ballot, they're really matters deeply to them, whether it's COVID recovery, whether it's economic recovery, or whether it's some of those kitchen table issues, they know that there's a huge distinction between candidates. And so folks are excited.

But also there's that fear about what's going to happen with the pandemic, you know, increasing number of cases, possibly during flu season, and folks want to make sure they get their voices heard. So they're coming out early.

WHITFIELD: You're running in Virginia's 5th district, which includes Charlottesville, also, you know, the place of white supremacist March slash rally, which led to the death of one protester, your opponent, Bob Good, recently received a lot of attention for one of his campaign ads, which the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee condemned as a racist dog whistle. So how do you respond to that? What's your message to voters in this district?

WEBB: We've responded with truth. I think that it's kind of your typical Washington politics, that idea that you just spread as much disinformation as possible. I think the ad was specifically saying I want to increase crime and violence. And as a physician who does a lot of work in the community, why would I ever want that. So no, I'm not interested in defunding the police. I'm not interested

in more crime or violence, as my opponent suggests, but instead, we responded by having two sheriffs from his home county actually do a commercial where they're talking about their support for me in -- you know, my father worked in law enforcement for 20 years, and I have a deep respect for law enforcement.

So again, we just combat disinformation with backs. And try to use all the resources we have to get the right information out there.

WHITFIELD: All right, you're a doctor, of course, on the mind, always public health, you know, you're still treating COVID patients, I understand. And you've made healthcare a critical part of your campaign. So how has this pandemic changed or really led your approach to running for office?

WEBB: Well, you know, when we got into this race last summer healthcare was already a top issue. And I think that the pandemic is just really exposed those fault lines in our healthcare system and people's access to care. It's also exposed the critical need to invest in pandemic preparedness. And so we're just seeing how critical this is. We got 15 rural hospitals across the country that have closed in 2020.

And so we're seeing the need for more investment in rural hospitals. We're seeing the need for more resources to communities that are hardest hit, you know, a lot of black and brown communities have seen the highest number of cases of COVID but also the highest mortality. So recognizing these disparities, we need to work on them. It's that clarion call to continue to expand access to affordable health care.

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WHITFIELD: So you come with this a very unique, you know, position, you know, for a very long time people, you know, are hearing, how important it is to mail-in vote largely to even protect themselves during this pandemic. But of course, now, you've got a lot of people who are confused and worried about, you know, the pace of mail. So they are now electing to go stand in those lines early, what is your message to people about voting and doing so safely?

WEBB: Well, it's that try to ensure public health message of wear a mask, maintain your physical distance, I think there's nothing wrong with going to the polls early and making sure you have your voice heard. But when you're doing so make sure that you're keeping that distance being very vigilant.

You know, I've worked in the COVID unit two nights this week. We're still seeing cases come in and it's folks of any age range. I've seen 18 year olds, 25 year olds, and 65 year olds. And so the truth is, anybody could be at risk. Make sure you're taking care of yourself. But, yes, voting early in person is a great way to make sure that you see your ballot going and you feel confident, and at the same time keeping yourself safe.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Cameron Webb, thanks so much, good luck. WEBB: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And of course, be safe. All right, more news in a moment. But first go inside the incredible story of the boy from Troy turned civil rights icon John Lewis, his speech during the march on Washington is still relevant, 57 years later. Here's a look back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): Let us not forget that we are involved in a serious social revolution, where there's political party that will make it unnecessary for march on Washington, whether there's political party that would make it unnecessary to march in the streets of Birmingham. Those who are saving patience and wait, we must say they're cannot be figured that we do not get mean for legislation out this Congress.

We would march through south through streets of Jackson, through streets of Danville, through the streets Cambridge, through the streets Birmingham. What we will march with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today. We must wake up America, wake up but we cannot stop and we will not and cannot patient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow, John Lewis reflecting on his own words, before his passing. CNN Films presents John Lewis: Good Trouble, tomorrow night at 9:00. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right in these trying times, it is easy to forget the good things happening around us. So today in our champions for change series, I'm going to trailblazing civil engineer who is changing the way her hometown of New Orleans deals with floodwater.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEAGAN WILLIAMS, STORMWATER PROGRAM MANAGER, CITY OF NEW ORLEANS: It is the only home I've ever known. It is my rock, my foundation. It is my grounding point. I've never known anything else. I was 16 when Katrina hit. My dad drove my brother, myself, and my mom around the city and just showed us the devastation. It was unrecognizable.

And that was the moment that I knew that I wanted to be a part of what the city could become afterwards. I went to the University of New Orleans. I graduated in 2012 with a degree in civil environmental engineering. New Orleans relationship with water is tumultuous at best. We literally sit at the bottom of the bowl. We pump all of our water out. And we saw the effects of trying to pump out too much water too quickly not just in Katrina, but with regular thunderstorms.

GRETCHEN BRADFORD, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I have lived in Pontchartrain Park my entire life. When it rains, we do experience flooding.

WILLIAMS: The roads will be completely inundated.

BRADFORD: It is important to me, as well, because it sits right behind my home.

WILLIAMS: Some of the leaders in the neighborhood beg and pleaded to do something different here. We have to change the way that we have historically done, things from the very inception of a project. As an engineer, I'm a problem solver. So I see a problem and I immediately go to solution.

This is my baby. This is the project that I am most proud of and most excited for. This is the Pontilly Project. This in and of itself can hold about 950,000 gallons of water. This is water that is not in the street and also not in people's houses.

The idea of all the green infrastructure and storm water management projects is to either retain or detain water before it gets into the system. So, when you can hold a couple hundred thousand gallons of water or even tens of thousands gallons here or there, you get to see a bigger relief on the system.

DARYL MOREAU, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Free rain garden. If we had any kind of even moderate rain, we were going to get standing water anywhere from six to 12 inches of water and it would stay there. It could stay there for 24 hours. It has absolutely been a god send to have this. It's been wonderful.

WILLIAMS: It is often, we figure out a solution to the problem, we do the solution, and then we tell people about it.

[12:45:04]

I realize that we have to make more of a push to make sure that we are talking to the people who will be using these products. I can't put something in front of somebody's house and just expect them to be OK with it.

BRADFORD: About a month ago, we had one of those downpours. It was really quite something to see because at first, I was like, oh, Lord, it's raining. And then all of a sudden, the water slowly, gradually went away.

WILLIAMS: To see a project like this come to fruition and just really serve a much-needed purpose for a neighborhood that does not often get things like this is -- it's something I'm really proud to be a part of.

BRADFORD: Girl, you are --

WILLIAMS: Thank you for talking to us.

BRADFORD: You are our hero.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: Oh, wow, what a brilliant young mind. Be sure to watch more of these inspirational stories in our "Champions for Change," one hour special tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

All right, up next, local organizations helping families in need as Americans wait for Congress to act on a new stimulus plan.

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[12:50:55]

WHITFIELD: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin plan to meet this weekend in a last ditch effort to reach a deal on our coronavirus relief bill. The two parties remain trillions of dollars apart on a stimulus package and negotiations are now butting up against next week's congressional recess.

This as a slow economic recovery leaves more and more Americans vulnerable heading into the fall. CNN's Natasha Chen is in Atlanta where local organizations are stepping in to help. Natasha what is happening today?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, there's a voter registration drive here as well as a food drive happening at the same time. And just to show you what's going on here, cars are driving up. First, they're being asked if they're registered to vote. And then they turn the corner here where they can get food put in their trunks. And then they can turn the corner again, and actually get some book donation.

So it's a one stop shop, really for voter registration. It's a food drive. This is a space by Mercedes Benz stadium that is typically used for tailgates. And we talked to the CEO of the stadium and Atlanta United, of course. And he said that typically, this would be full of people on a game day. And they like to use this space to connect the community and felt that this was the proper occasion to do such a thing. Here's what he said.

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STEVE CANNON, CEO, AMB GROUP: Actually, we reached out to them voting and voter registration is an issue that's really important to our players, really important to Arthur Blank and to his family participating in our democracy is so, so important. So we see our role as a as a community gatherer. I mean, that's what the stadium is for.

That's what bringing people together. But being a positive participant to the community is kind of who we are. And we felt like in this moment, with a big election coming in just a few weeks to get the vote out, felt important. So we're using our assets, not just our voice, but our physical assets, stadium, and in this case, Home Depot backyard to bring people together to register to vote.

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CHEN: One person who talked to us coming today said four members of her family had lost their jobs during the pandemic. So she was picking up food for them. Another person said he was laid off as a sales rep and had never been to a food drive before this year. So you can tell just a lot of people sharing the difficulties of this experience in 2020, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Is there a feeling that the majority of the people who are there to pick up food are actually registering to vote as well?

CHEN: Well, there are a few people who actually came up and they found out that they actually had to update their voter registration because they moved and didn't realize that the change of address was very crucial. So it is important as they're stopping each driver to see not only are they registered, but have they put their new address in that registration.

[12:53:54]

WHITFIELD: All very important details. Natasha Chen, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right for college football fans today may feel like Christmas. The SEC is finally kicking off today after delaying the start of this season due to the coronavirus. CNN's Andy Scholes is in Baton Rouge home of the defending SEC champs, the LSU tigers. Oh, I bet you people are excited.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Excited Fredricka. And you know this kick off Saturday is usually a huge party here in Baton Rouge but it is much different this year. There's no tailgating so it's actually, you know, rather quiet out here right now.

Now they will be allowing 25,000 fans into Tiger Stadium later today for the opener against Mississippi State. And I walked around campus. I asked some of those fans, you know, how do they feel about coming to a big time sporting event in the middle of a pandemic?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely very different right now. I would -- usually this place is packed at this time. I guess, and one way is kind of nice to bring a kid, you don't have all the crowd to deal with on that because this would be his first game.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels sad, but we're going to make the best of it. The 25,000 of us are going to scream really loudly and make you feel like it's 102,000 in the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been teaching school since early August and I'm getting used to wearing a mask all the time. It's hard outside to wear it because it's -- it gets a little hot but thank goodness we have a nice weather today, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

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[13:00:05]

SCHOLES: Now, all the teams in the SEC are kicking off play today.